As the number of computers increases worldwide, so does their use in educational settings. Many classrooms and libraries now provide access to data that may be located halfway around the world. Instead of a student having to be physically present in a class, the student may now attend a class by utilizing a computer thousands of miles away. Also, training materials can be stored on computers (i.e., digitized) for use at a later time or while mobile.
Computer-based training materials are, however, largely developed on a proprietary (e.g., company-by-company) basis, resulting in high development costs and limited resale value. American companies alone spend billions of dollars a year on the development of training products with little of the investment focused on resale or external product development. To obviate these problem, the advanced distributive learning (ADL) initiative has been developing guidelines to create new markets for training materials, reduce the costs of development, and increase the potential return on investment.
One common way to share educational information is to utilize a learning management system (LMS). An LMS generally includes solutions for cataloging, course registration, provision of a course, tracking (for example, by managers), and accounting. Such an LMS is typically a large software system, which can easily cost over $100,000. In most cases, an LMS is too costly for one user or cannot be run locally on a client's system, which may lack the necessary local resources.
One solution for sharing courseware amongst LMS providers is to use SCORM, which is developed by the ADL. SCORM provides a reference model that defines a Web-based learning content model. Moreover, SCORM provides a set of interrelated technical specifications for creation of shareable content. Generally, a SCORM course consists of SCOs, which represent the lowest level of granularity of content that can be tracked by an element using the SCORM run-time environment.
In accordance with SCORM, navigation within a SCO can be defined by that SCO. A SCO cannot, however, navigate to another SCO. It is generally the responsibility of an LMS to manage the sequencing and navigation amongst SCOs, for example, based on the content structure format (CSF) hierarchy of blocks and SCOs defining the structure of a given course. Accordingly, SCORM requires that a SCORM-compliant course be viewed through an LMS. More specifically, SCORM requires that the LMS have the ability to determine what to deliver and when, and track the student's progress through the learning content.
The ability to easily navigate a course is a critical feature for any user taking a course. Usability studies have found that the ability to move seamlessly from one SCO to another (as if turning pages in a book) is typically preferred by users over other navigation methods. The present implementation of SCORM provides rules for an LMS or content providers (as an API). However, SCORM does not provide any details as to navigation and sequencing of SCOs.